Page 112 of Tumbleweed Temptation
She let the microphone fall to her thigh as she watched the screen, as each cook vied for a spot in the small kitchen, and her grandfather kept track of it all.
She was pretty relieved things were running as smoothly as they did. She was actually starting to relax and enjoy herself.
And then Austin came jogging through the gate, grinning at her.
“Hey! Am I too late?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The resentment thatbubbled up in her only made her angrier—angry at herself for feeling resentment. That wasn’t who she was. She didn’t let herself resent. She never let herself care that much in the first place.
“The cooks are just getting started,” she said.
“Good, good. Glad I didn’t miss it.”
He walked over and reached for the microphone, which she held just a little closer to her, but when she looked into his face, and she saw the exhaustion and strain there, she relented. He smiled, his gaze meeting hers.
“Thanks for doing all this, Ginny. I owe you.” His voice was low, for her ears only.
All she wanted from him was to know the truth about where he’d been today, but she couldn’t say that, not here and now. She handed over the microphone, but once he took it, she wasn’t really sure what to do. She supposed she could get ready to start serving.
“Hi, everyone, welcome,” he said into the microphone. “Join me in thanking Ginny for putting this all together while I was busy. She did an awesome job, and I think she deserves a round of applause.”
She waved the praise away, still battling that damn resentment.
“What we have here today is the breakfast competition?” He looked to Ginny for verification.
“Quick and easy,” she corrected.
“Right, right, breakfast will be at Delgado’s. I forgot. Sorry.” He tapped his temple. “So these will be meals you can cook on the fly on one of those nights when the kids have something going on after school, or you get home late from work, or you just don’t want to cook and you want something healthy for your family. Ginny did a lot of research on this one, to be honest. And Mrs. Lopez had to make two separate special orders for the ingredients, but I think you’re going to like what our contestants come up with.”
He turned to look at the screen. “Oh, hey, I like the timers. Good idea.” He smiled at Ginny.
Despite his cheerful tone, his eyes were dark, and she just wished he’d confide in her and tell her what was wrong. She’d thought they were closer than this, but ever since that weekend, when they’d gotten as close as two people could, he’d held his distance. She got that he didn’t want a commitment to this town, that he intended to leave. Had that occurred to him after their weekend together?
Was he afraid she was going to tie him here?
